We stayed in Riverside House Bed and Breakfast for our time in Chiang Mai. It was just across the bridge outside the old city and a five minute walk to the Night Bazaar. The Night Bazaar has so many shops, bars and restuarants. Having gone from a shared dorm with just a curtain pulled over our bed to a private pool with an ensuite, balcony and pool felt like heaven!

The only downside was work being done on the hotel. This was due to them only moving to that location in early November. Thankfully our room overlooked the pool and we couldn't hear the noise from there. The rooms were spacious and very comfy. We had air con, wifi, tea/coffee facilities and breakfast was included. The staff were super friendly and do your laundry for 60 baht (£1.50ish) per kilogram.

On our first day we relaxed by the pool and tried to plan what we would do after Saturday as we had no bookings or travel routes planned. In the evening we went to a vegetarian restuarant called J Kitchen. It was a nice change from my restricted diet over the past few days, but honestly, I am a lover of the egg fried rice now. After that, we went for drinks at Kalae Bar and met a couple from London (Abbie and Ash). We played pool with them and drinking card games - ended up out till around 2am when we had to be up at 7am for an excursion. Woopsy!

On the Wednesday we went to the Elephant Nature Park. I am going to do a seperate blog for this as it was incredible and I have so much to say!

We rented a moped on the Thursday and drove into the mountains. We visited Montha Tan Waterfall and did a long walk around the trail. We weren't prepared for the amount of walking in our flip flops whilst everyone else had trainers on. I even brought a picnic mat thinking it would be a relaxing day trying to tan my milk bottle skin. The waterfall was beautiful and so refreshing to go in. We kept driving up and ended up in a local village with no tourists and had lunch at what appeared to be someones house. It was so cheap and they were so welcoming, and food was good! I started watching a Thai programme on their tv and I think with subtitles I would have enjoyed it.

Whilst in Chiang Mai we thought it would be a good idea to get our teeth whitened (not very travel like I know). My friend Abi who used to live near recommended a dentist called Dental4U. I can definitely see a difference in the colour but I can only liken the process to a torture method. For a solid hour I had to sit there and bite my teeth into a gum shield whilst a laser was being pointed at them. Every now and then a tooth would go very sensitive. Afterwards it was fine. I experienced some sensitivity but after 24 hours that would go. I did google it quite a bit just to be on the safe side! The dentists were very professional, helpful and accomodating.

On our way to teeth whitening a Thai man (who we later learned was a history teacher) stopped us outside a temple. He told us about and showed us the yellow flowers they had planted. He said that they were planted as a tribute to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He told us that they represented his birthday colour as he was born on a Monday. He reigned in Thailand for seven decades. The blooming flowers were beautiful and a very sweet tribute. Since then I have spotted lots of these flowers around.

Our final night in Chiang Mai was back to the Night Baazar for dinner and back to the Kalae Bar for pool and drinks. We met a man from Dublin named Will who played pool with us for a bit (I was more of a spectator) then we headed back to pack for our 10.30am bus to Pai.

All in all I absolutely love Chiang Mai and I think we will stop again next week for a night before moving on. I fell in love with it last time and the same this time. I know you are all wondering - there were not nearly as many homeless cats and dogs, and I did see the locals feeding some too or keeping them close by allowing them to sleep in their stall etc which was nice.